Combust

Author: Caleb David Duku

I

Light the match

And flame billows up

Filling up my nostrils and rolling down my gut

Attacks of panic,

or

Asthmatic seizures,

Might just be enough to stop me smoking reefer

But

I take totes and my mind goes hazy

So I can cloud the pain

Of a love so shady.

Whoever thought - that green pastures would burn,

Or – a flower that I bloomed would die so early,

Aut-umn.

To clear the smoke I open windows up,

A mental air conditioner

On a damn windy day.

Pain is an illusion,

But all this smoke is real

However its gone now

And there is nothing left to burn,

But the combustible tank of emotion and regret

Which I call

My heart.